The blues scale for tenor sax and bb instruments digital. The only book ever published showing the beginning jazz soloist how to improvise a real solo using only scales, the major and minor blues scales. The blues scale is derived from the minor pentatonic scale. Firstly a clear and precise representation of the two basic blues scales major and minor. Tabs, fingerings, box patterns, licks, pdf and more. Here is a pdf of the 36 important scales major, dorian, and. The guitar scales chart book is an instant download, so you can start learning and playing new scales within minutes. Blues scales blues is an irresistible tonality for a guitar player. You can get more charts in with custom tunings using my interactive scale generator here.
These are mustknow scales especially for blues and rock so be sure to memorize. The cool, swing, chicken picken, jump blues sound that this scale produces makes a solid addition to the repertoire of. Get to know the sound of the blues scale by playing the pattern below. To play the blues is a fascinating undertaking because it can be both simplistic and yet intangibly tricky to master. Click here to download this free printable guitar scales chart pdf to your computer.
This division is clearly and systematically preserved in all musical examples till the end of the book. Blues music has a solid but plaintive sound which results from the use of a minorbased scale over the top of majorbased chords usually dominant. Whole and a half, whole, half, half, whole and a half, whole. To summarize, the most important scales to learn first are the major, dorian, and mixolydian scales because they help you navigate major 7th, minor 7th, and dominant b7 chords, respectively. The cool, swing, chicken picken, jump blues sound that this scale produces makes a solid addition to the repertoire of any modern guitarist. Though it takes you longer to use this scale in your solos, the payoff is well worth it. The end result is solid understanding of what scales to use for grooves and soloing and for a bassist this understanding is crucial. Free printable guitar scales, ready to download and use. The blues scale is one the first scales that students of improvisation learn and generally it ends as being the only scale that they use besides the major and pentatonic scales. Why learning more than one scale pattern is beneficial.
Free guitar scales pdf 84 scale and arpeggios chart. Ive included a great downloadable pdf with free blues guitar scales. The blues scale for tenor saxophone and bb instruments by andrew d. It tabs out the pentatonic scales in all 12 major and minor keys. Use the e scale below and locate the red root notes e. It is usually considered the forerunner of both jazz and rock, and it breaks many of the conventions of classical music theory. You can now play in safe mode with these notes, each note will sound more or less good, there are no wrong notes. The scale generator below will help you create blues scale charts diagrams in many different tunings. Charts are in pdf format and require the free acrobat reader. Aug 12, 2019 on this page youll find blues scale guitar tab, patterns and notation that will allow you to play blues scales all over the guitar neck. The blues scale for tenor bb instruments by andrew d. Usually its the next scale learned after the major and minor scales. How to play the minor and major blues scales with solo examples. The chromatic progression from the 5 th down to the minor 3 rd is a classic move.
Gordon is he feels, one of his most important books because of the nature of the blues scale and how it is used to improvise in many styles of contemporary music. Get music lessons in your inbox be instantly notified when i release new free stuff. Mar 11, 2015 recently i did a post about the 3 most important jazz scales for beginning improvisers. For now, just get to know the basic interval structure and color of these scales. In the beginning, your fingers hurt and your hands are weak but dont worry. There are a total of 430 finger exercises in this book. Just because you practice scales, chords, patterns, and exercises doesnt mean you will sound stiff and mechanical, or that you will become a jazz great. A pentatonic scale is a scale that has 5 notes per octave. If you need to know how to read guitar scale patterns, then youll find a complete lesson on this page. Firstly download the major scale in all 12 keys pdf. Scales are presented as fretboard diagrams, as well as in notation and tab.
This division is clearly and systematically preserved. Major and minor blues scales guitar tab and essential licks. On this page youll find blues scale guitar tab, patterns and notation that will allow you to play blues scales all over the guitar neck. By all means, use the notation to speed up the learning process but try to commit these scales to your memory as soon as possible.
Whether you want to brush up on your pentatonics, play blues in an unusual key, rock out with an easternsounding scale or improvise. Blues scales are the most commonly used scales in most genres of music. We can add the flat 5, b5, or blue note to the pentatonic scale, making it a sixnote scale called the blues scale. Often new players are drawn to the instrument because of a desire to play the blues. Learn to incorporate the blues notes into the pentatonic scale. Free guitar tutorials beginner to intermediate guitar. Download the free print sheets for this lesson pdf. The scales listed here are the ones i most often hear musicians play. In this section you can find major scales, harmonic minor and melodic minor scales, in different shapes and fretboard positions. Play scales very slowly with big bows keeping an even tone across the bow stroke practice scales with a drone pitch using the first note of the scale memorize the scales occasionally use a tuner to help you tune each pitch.
To get the minor pentatonic scale, add the black notes egabd. Blues scales are the most famous sounds of the xx century music. When this happens, the blues scale is often the first jazz scale that the student is taught. That b5, or blue note, adds a lot of tension and color to the scale. Remember, learning scales is just one part of jazz guitar, but it is a crucial part, as a lot of your playing time will be spent on lead improvisation. The minor pentatonic scale is typically the first scale guitarists learn to solo with and is very commonly used to form solos in rock, blues, and other popular styles.
Adding a blue note to the regular pentatonic scale result in the pentatonic blues scale. A comprehensive collection of scales is provided, suitable for use in blues, rock, metal, jazz and classical music. Jazz is an experimental genre and guitarists are constantly exploring new scales and modifying old ones in their improvisation. If you are wishing to order the pdfmp3 files please go to the correct page as this product is for the pdf file only. The major blues scale is some less common than the minor blues scale, and therefore we start with minor and you will find the major by. While the majority of pentatonic melodies in this box are expressed on the highest 4strings, this lick demonstrates how you can open up the lower end of the box position. Jan 01, 2004 blues scales a topic that usually takes a maximum of 2 pages a regular book of jazz theory, here extends to 80 pages. The description below is for the pdf and audio files. The student is given the task of following the scale formula for both scales and is thus encouraged to develop an understanding of how the two scales are constructed and how they differ rather than just memerising a sequence of letter names in order to recite them. Mar 01, 2016 youll grow to become very intimate with this blues scale, so pay attention.
Recently i did a post about the 3 most important jazz scales for beginning improvisers. It is the only difference between the blues scale and the minor pentatonic scale. Each scale is illustrated in more than one fretboard position, giving you a suitable scale pattern. Download a free printable guitar scale chart for quick reference when practicing your guitar. Combining the blues scale with the major scale gives you the entire chromatic scale except for flat two and flat six. All of these scales would work over the following chord progressions. Introduction to the scale syllabus jamey aebersold. These are four of the synthetic scales used in jazz. In addition to the lessons on the major and minor scales, you can also download pdfs containing the scales in all 12 keys. This is a hitormiss process that most jazz players before 1965 had to use to learn their trade. Gordon is he feels, one of his most important books because of the nature of the blues scale and how it is used to improvise in many. Learning how to play the guitar is a wonderful, fulfilling, neverending journey. A pdf download of all the blues scales in standard tuning for all keys is available by clicking the download link below. Therefore you could use any of these scales over the key of a major.
Listening to jazz recordstapes should be part of every musicians daily routine. It had its roots in afroamerican music with the slaves and became being really used in blues, receiving the name of blues scale. Blues scales a topic that usually takes a maximum of 2 pages a regular book of jazz theory, here extends to 80 pages. The scales are used often for composing melodies and for improvisation. Just rightclick on the link and choose save as to save it to your computer. Introduction to the scale syllabus each chordscale symbol c7, c, c. See george russells lydian chromatic concept, oliver messiaens harmonic concept, nicolas slonimsky, schoenberg, dave liebman, hindemith etc. Now theoretically, the pentatonic is split into two scales. Almost all music genres being born in the last hundred years come from blues above all in notclassical music.
After clicking the buy now button, youll be directed to our online store at gumroad. Many highly advanced blues guitarists make use of not one single scale, but combine many different scales to make their sound stand out more. In the case of c pentatonic, the three chords are c7 f7 g7. Microsoft word majorminor blues scales boxesguitar. The scale studies are broken down into intervals and the exercises contain three and fourpart chords, playing. Jazz guitar scales basic modal scales ionianmajor scale play over. Learn the blues scale in all 5 fingerboard positions. Here i will show you through some of the most common scales used on the guitar in soloing and improvisation, talk a bit about their use and illustrate some of the most common positions to play these scales. Pentatonic scales pdf and instructional video guitar alliance. Scales jazz pdf for information concerning the finest in jazz education write to summer jazz workshops, co. I have also included the 5 box patterns you need to learn in order to memorize the blues scales in all keys. In consonance with this weeks blog, ive provided some tabs on how one can begin to approach this pentatonic position in unorthodox ways. I have also included a pdf download of blues scales in all keys in standard tuning.
The solution below shows the d blues scale, on the piano, treble clef and bass clef since the key of d appears on the circle of fifths diagram as both a major and minor key, the lesson steps explain both ways of constructing this blues scale for this key the 1st construction, using the major scale, starts at lesson 3 the 2nd construction, using the minor pentatonic scale. Powered by create your own unique website with customizable templates. The pdf is for members only, so youll need to login to download it. Blues scales are used in many musical kinds for example in blues, jazz, rock and roll, funk, soul rhythm and blues, dance, pop. This jazz scales article and many others on this site will help you. More than any other ingredient, the jazz tradition is based on listening. Free printable guitar scales 14 most commonly used scales.
To play the blues is a fascinating undertaking because it can be both simplistic and yet intangibly tricky to. The book comes as a pdf file, which can be read on your screen and printed suitable for printing on us letter and a4 sized paper. Dance music, master chords, chords scale, learning killers, guitar chords charts. Many people begin by playing by ear letting their inner musical ear guide their choice of notes and rhythms. Heres a nice middle register lick which can be used a quick flurry before going back to the bottom root note. If you use scales to improvise and composewhatever style of music you playthen the guitar scales chart book is the reference book you need. If you are wishing to order the pdf mp3 files please go to the correct page as this product is for the pdf file only. You can throw those two notes in as passing tones too, so you can effectively play any note you want over blues.
This pdf contains the scale charts for the blues scale in all keys for guitar in standard tuning. I remember being introduced to the blues scale in jazz band when i was a sixth grader. When playing a twelve bar blues in the key of bb, use the bb blues scale anywhere in the chord progression. The guitar scales chart book features all of the widelyused guitar scales pentatonic, blues, etc. In some respects, teaching the this scale as the first jazz scale makes sense. This added flattened note is commonly referred to as the blue note and is responsible for the scale s unique sound. Further down the page youll find four additional blues scale patterns. These four scales also happen to be symmetrical in their intervallic construction. Lets say we have a standard 12 bar blues in e with the chords e 7a7b7. These series of tones have traditionally been called scales. Fretboard diagram a ivi fret a e a 1 agbl f agbl 2 b fggl b 3 c g c 4 cgdl ggal cgdl 5 d a d 6 dgel agbl dgel 7 e b e 8 f c f 9 fggl cgdl fggl 10 g d g 11 ggal dgel ggal 12 a e a swamp dawg primal music. The major scale is used as the basic starting point for many scales and modes.